Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier around the health care sustainability unit. So the first question is does the Premier view the mandate of the health care sustainability unit as primarily to cut services that are non-core, seen as perhaps unnecessary or too fancy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I don't see the primary mandate of the health care system sustainability unit to be cutting of services. The health care system sustainability unit is going to be tasked -- is tasked with establishing a core services inventory for the insured and non-insured programs and services and quantifying their financial impact and their operational needs.
It's going to identify inefficiencies, duplications of resources, and unnecessary processes in health care operations, and recommend changes to enhance the overall efficiency.
It's going to establish continuous improvement cycle -- establish a continuous improvement cycle that includes a monitoring and evaluation framework that demonstrates how progress is being made and how it -- how it's being made in a sustainable way and how it will be measured.
It will evaluate the current programs to identify sustainable service levels, and it will work with the department and health authorities to enhance service delivery and develop cost effective health care solutions.
So this unit is -- has been created so we can actually get a handle on the health care system, know what we're doing, know how much it costs, and then figure out how to do it better and more efficient so that we can achieve this Assembly's priority of ensuring basic -- access to basic health care for all residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so there has been a lot of emphasis in the Premier's statements about the unit being focused on figuring out which health programs and services are core. So maybe the Premier could enlighten us as to some examples of services that the Premier would consider to be non-core. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that's the work that this unit is going to do. I'll say the majority of what the health authorities do, the programs and services they deliver, they're necessary. They're not optional. You know, we're not going to send people who need dialysis all down south to the provinces to get their treatment. The types of services that residents need in the territory and that we can reasonably expect to deliver in the territory, we want to continue doing that. But the fact is that there's programming across the department -- or across the authorities that it could be duplicative, it could be inefficient, it could be a remnant of an old federal program that we no longer have the money for and doesn't align with our priorities. So we want to ensure that we get a good view of what's actually happening and making sure that it's efficient and making sure that we're monitoring that it's efficient. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So can the Premier clarify whether the work of the health care sustainability unit will include workforce planning. So that could include how many clinicians and which kinds of clinicians we'll need to deliver integrated care to all NWT residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So looking at the inventory of programs and services and how those programs and services are operating and what their operational needs are is part of that work, and the number of staff, number of physicians, clinicians you need to do your work falls squarely in that, so that is part of the work. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So finally, can the Premier commit to making the work of the unit public, including ongoing progress reports that we can expect here in -- to be given to Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So without knowing exactly what the unit is going to encounter in their investigations because they're investigating -- they're looking into all of the data that's been collected over the years, all of the reports that have been published, they're hearing from frontline staff, from others within the department and the authorities. I can't say that we'll make everything public but I can definitely commit to providing regular updates to the Members and to the public through this House and other forums over the course of this initiative so that people can see what's happening and hold us accountable if what we're doing is not working. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.
